On her MSNBC show on Friday, anchor Andrea Mitchell decried the fact that the usual liberal identity politics did not work with voters in November’s election. Talking to Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd, she fretted over the revelation that campaign focus groups “showed that people related to Hillary Clinton as a man.”
While discussing Thursday’s post-election forum at Harvard University, Mitchell noted longtime Clinton operative Mandy Grunwald telling the conference “that all of her focus groups showed that people related to Hillary Clinton as a man, as though she were the commander-in-chief. She said, ‘I’ve elected six women senators. I’ve never had a candidate. People view her as a man.’ They did not see the humanity in her.”
Todd observed: “That's interesting. I always said that her – that the problem for her is she was being – it’s her last name was her problem, not her gender. It was the last name that said establishment. It’s the last name that said NAFTA...”
Earlier in the exchange, Mitchell complained about how “nasty” Trump campaign staffers were at the event:
Well, in fact, on the Clinton side, there was some acknowledgment of fault....They were very protective of her. And the reason was they were hurting because – not only because she lost and she's in pain, they’re in pain – but because it was so nasty coming from the other side, “People don't like her.” You know, she’s – that was the – that’s what they were saying. You know, “Your candidate is not relatable.”
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Todd blamed all sides for the tone of the discussion, including the press:
...what we saw yesterday – and I'm not going to single out individuals, nobody has any humility yet. What has happened to grace and humility? Nobody has shown any of it. Not the campaigns, either side of it. But I have to say that the Trump campaign has come across as sore winners. Clinton folks came across as sore losers, they came across as sore winners. But even those that represented – that had to represent the media didn't show enough humility. My gosh, can somebody show some humility here?
Mitchell chimed in: “We all got it wrong, folks.” Todd replied: “Yeah, exactly, it is okay to admit some mistakes. It is okay to do that. And it seems like right now at that conference everybody was looking to blame someone else. Nobody would look in the mirror.”
Here is a transcript of the December 2 exchange:
12:11 PM ET
(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: There was a lot of push-back against the media at the conference. And the other piece of it was Mandy Grunwald, in a very calm and emotional way, saying at the end, you know, to the Trump team, you know, “Congratulations. You know, you underestimate, you're not taking enough credit for just how brilliantly you gassed her with negative fake news.”
CHUCK TODD: She's right about the health thing. I can't tell you how many really – people that I know very well, have known in all my walks of life, who really believed that Hillary Clinton had major health issues based on some of these –
MITCHELL: Well, the pneumonia thing didn't help and the fact that...
TODD: It didn’t.
MITCHELL: ...they didn't announce it.
TODD: There’s no doubt. But there had been this –
MITCHELL: But, boy.
TODD: Yeah. That part of it was effective. Let me just tell you this about what I – I'm being an observer, I don't want to act like the snob that wasn't there. But the 22-year-old version of me, I couldn't wait to get my hands on those transcripts at the Harvard post-election things. For me it was, you know, 92' and then in 96'. And it used to be you’d get just transcripts.
MITCHELL: Now we have it from WikiLeaks.
TODD: But you just couldn't wait to find out and the people at the top of their game, both in the media and in politics, how did they do it? How did they come close and how did they win? Right? And instead, what we saw yesterday – and I'm not going to single out individuals, nobody has any humility yet. What has happened to grace and humility? Nobody has shown any of it. Not the campaigns, either side of it. But I have to say that the Trump campaign has come across as sore winners. Clinton folks came across as sore losers, they came across as sore winners. But even those that represented – that had to represent the media didn't show enough humility. My gosh, can somebody show some humility here?
MITCHELL: We all got it wrong, folks.
TODD: Yeah, exactly, it is okay to admit some mistakes. It is okay to do that. And it seems like right now at that conference everybody was looking to blame someone else. Nobody would look in the mirror. And it was just a – I have to say this, for anybody – these are supposed to be role models for young, up-and-coming political consultants and political journalists.
MITCHELL: And the students in the room.
TODD: And I have to say, I am sorry for a 20 or 21-year-old right now, I’m worried that they’re going to look at this and go, “I'm not gonna go into this business, I’m going somewhere else.” This is an s-show.
MITCHELL: Well, in fact, on the Clinton side, there was some acknowledgment of fault – not so much in messaging and scheduling – but that they didn’t put – you know, Robby Mook said, “Well, I should have sent more people to Michigan.” What about sending the candidate to Michigan? What about sending the candidate to Wisconsin? They were very protective of her. And the reason was they were hurting because – not only because she lost and she's in pain, they’re in pain – but because it was so nasty coming from the other side, “People don't like her.” You know, she’s – that was the – that’s what they were saying. You know, “Your candidate is not relatable.” And what Mandy Grunwald said is that all of her focus groups showed that people related to Hillary Clinton as a man, as though she were the commander-in-chief. She said, “I’ve elected six women senators. I’ve never had a candidate. People view her as a man.” They did not see the humanity in her.
TODD: That's interesting. I always said that her – that the problem for her is she was being – it’s her last name was her problem, not her gender. It was the last name that said establishment. It’s the last name that said NAFTA – which, by the way, totally underestimated in, I think, what really mattered to some of these voters in the rust belt.
MITCHELL: The trade issue.
TODD: The trade issue was stronger than people realized. And Bernie [Sanders] – and Bernie is the one who made it – who helped raise it in the Democratic side and she never had a good answer.
MITCHELL: They didn't see the warning signs. But one quick thing about gender, could they have made a fake news, negative campaign against a man as effectively on health issues? “She's got Alzheimer's. She's going to die of this or that.” I mean, that was all out there. They have records now, they’ve tracked it back. Could you have done that after the pneumonia? “She's weak Hillary.” You know, not the crooked Hillary, but the weak Hillary. Could he have done that against a man as effectively as he did against a woman? I don’t think so.
TODD: I don't know. And I think you’re right, I think a lot of women believe that's not the case.
(...)
